Emmy nominee profile: Christina Ricci (‘Yellowjackets’) proves her talent for portraying sugar-coated depravity

Christina Ricci is arguably one of the most successful former child actors to have gotten their start in the 1990s, as she has maintained a consistent career since debuting in the film “Mermaids” at the age of 10. Having already played starring roles on the 2010s TV series “Pan Am” and “Z: The Beginning of Everything,” she is now a regular on Showtime’s “Yellowjackets.” Her portrayal of Misty Quigley, a middle-aged nurse who survived a plane crash as a teenager, has given her a popularity boost and could now earn her an Emmy for Best Drama Supporting Actress.

Ricci has chosen to have Emmy voters consider her work in the first season finale of “Yellowjackets,” entitled “Sic Transit Gloria Mundi.” In the installment, the present-day Misty is enlisted to help her former high school acquaintances and fellow crash survivors clean up a murder scene before they all attend their 25-year class reunion. The next day, she finally frees her long-held kidnapping victim, faux journalist Jessica Roberts (Rekha Sharma), but it soon becomes clear that Misty poisoned her and never intended for her to get away.

Ricci has one previous Emmy bid to her name for her 2006 guest appearance on “Grey’s Anatomy.” She lost that Best Drama Guest Actress race to Patricia Clarkson (“Six Feet Under”). Since getting her start as an actress in a 1990 episode of the short-lived ABC series “H.E.L.P.,” she has recurred on such programs as “Ally McBeal” and “Saving Grace” and starred as the titular character on the limited series “The Lizzie Borden Chronicles.” Her varied feature film resume includes “The Addams Family,” “The Ice Storm,” “Sleepy Hollow,” “Monster” and “The Matrix Resurrections.”

Ricci’s possible triumph would make her the third actress since the turn of the century to receive this particular Emmy for a season finale performance, after Cherry Jones (“24,” 2009) and Julia Garner (“Ozark,” 2019). It would also be Showtime’s third Best Drama Supporting Actress victory, following Blythe Danner’s back-to-back wins for “Huff” in 2005 and 2006. The last time the pay network scored a win in any dramatic acting category was when Hank Azaria succeeded on his guest bid for “Ray Donovan” in 2016.

Aside from Sarah Snook (“Succession”) and 2019 and 2020 victor Garner (“Ozark”), Ricci’s supporting challengers are also new to the category. These other featured first-timers are Patricia Arquette (“Severance”), Jung Ho-yeon (“Squid Game”), Rhea Seehorn (“Better Call Saul”), J. Smith-Cameron (“Succession”) and Sydney Sweeney (“Euphoria”). Arquette has two previous wins under her belt for “Medium” (Best Drama Actress, 2005) and “The Act” (Best Movie/Limited Supporting Actress, 2019). She is also currently nominated as a producer of “Severance,” while Garner, Seehorn and Sweeney have earned additional notices this year for their respective work on “Inventing Anna” (Best Movie/Limited Actress), “Cooper’s Bar” (Best Short Form Actress) and “The White Lotus” (Best Movie/Limited Supporting Actress).

This article is part of Gold Derby’s “Emmy nominee profile” series spotlighting the 2022 acting contenders.

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